CPRIT Foundation committed

Barbara Canales, For the Express-News

Updated 4:45 pm, Wednesday, January 30, 2013

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Barbara Canales is a private-sector attorney and the founder of the Ready or Not Foundation. She is vice chairwoman of the CPRIT Foundation board of directors and a member of the CPRIT Oversight Committee.

First, it is crucial to know the CPRIT Foundation is funded entirely by private donations. Absolutely no taxpayer money is used to support its activities.

Second, in the interest of transparency, the CPRIT Foundation has provided a complete list of its donors to members of the Legislature, other public officials and the media. This is a significant departure from the donor bill of rights originally adopted by the foundation to protect the confidentiality of its donors. In fact, keeping donors' names private is standard practice for foundations, so generous contributors are not needlessly targeted by other organizations seeking financial support.

Third, the public should know the foundation plays no role in the CPRIT institute's grant application review process. To the contrary, the foundation has undertaken extraordinary efforts to address potential donor conflicts, among them excluding foundation donors from eligibility for grants from the institute. In a number of instances, the foundation has returned contributions when a possible conflict was deemed to exist.

The CPRIT Foundation was established by the Legislature to support the work of the CPRIT institute by supplementing executive salaries, coordinating an annual scientific conference and promoting cancer prevention and research efforts. Many organizations besides CPRIT have found this model necessary to achieve goals encumbered by state agency regulations.

For example, the Legislature correctly anticipated CPRIT would be unable to attract the caliber of scientists needed to make it a first-class institute with the salaries allowed by the state of Texas. To recruit the best scientific minds in the country, CPRIT must offer competitive salaries, which can only be done by supplementing state-provided salaries through funding by a separate foundation.

The CPRIT Foundation also uses private funding to coordinate and direct CPRIT's annual scientific conference. This event attracts some of the most accomplished, highly respected scientists in the world. For three days each fall, nearly 1,000 esteemed participants gather in Texas to discuss cutting-edge developments in cancer prevention and research.

Throughout the year, members of the CPRIT Foundation's staff travel across the state to conduct meetings with advocates and community leaders. The foundation also organizes Cancer Day at the Capitol to raise awareness among state legislators, and has coordinated an annual meeting in Washington, D.C., to build relationships, recruit support and attract federal grants to our state.

The consulting firm selected to direct the efforts of the foundation, JHL Company, was chosen because of its proven success in fundraising and project management. The retainer for their services — which includes all operating expenses and overhead associated with the foundation — accounts for less than 17 percent of the foundation's total income over a three-year period. This is comparable to the expenses of similar foundations.

Members of the CPRIT Oversight Committee and the CPRIT Foundation Board of Directors serve in their capacities as uncompensated volunteers. I serve on both, because of my own personal connection to this terrible disease. As an organization created to supplement the efforts of such an important cause, the CPRIT Foundation is committed to providing clarity, transparency and anything else that will help the institute continue its valuable work in the fight against cancer.

Barbara Canales is a private-sector attorney and the founder of the Ready or Not Foundation. She is vice chairwoman of the CPRIT Foundation board of directors and a member of the CPRIT Oversight Committee.